Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (The Big Hearted Will Take the Bride), also known as DDLJ,^[ is aHindi language film released on 20 October 1995. A romantic comedy, the film marked the directorial debut of Aditya Chopra, and starsShahrukh Khan and Kajol.

Earning over Rs 106 crore in India and Rs 15 crore overseas, the film became the biggest Bollywood hit of the year, as well as one of the biggest Bollywood hits of all time. It remains the longest running film in the history of Indian cinema. As of 2011, it is still playing at the Maratha Mandir theatre in Mumbai.

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge was included in the Cinema India showcase, "The Changing Face of Indian Cinema", which toured the United States in July and August 2004. Indiatimes Movies ranks the movie amongst the 25 Must See Bollywood Films. It was one of the two Hindi films in the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die list (the other being Mother India). It also placed twelfth on the British Film Institute's list of top Indian films of all time.

Story:

Raj Malhotra and Simran Singh (Shahrukh Khan and Kajol respectively) are young first generation British Indians brought up and living in London. Raj is the only child of wealthy widower Dharamvir Malhotra (Anupam Kher), who spoils his son excessively. Raj is a free-wheeling party boy, who is the first student at his tertiary institution to fail. Simran is the elder daughter of petrol station/convenience store owner Chaudhry Baldev Singh (Amrish Puri), a very socially conservative Punjabi Indian man whose only dream is to one day go back to his native Punjab. One day Raj tricks Baldev into selling him some beer after closing time by feigning an urgent need for headache medicine, making him very mad. Baldev angrily denounces Raj as a disgrace to Indians. Baldev is proud that he has managed to bring up his two daughters in a very traditional way. Simran constantly dreams of her Prince Charming, a stranger who comes into her life and sweeps her off her feet, and writes about him in her diary. Her mother "Lajo" (Farida Jalal) tells her not to get her hopes up.

One day a letter comes from Ajit (Satish Shah), Baldev's best friend in India, saying that his son, Kuljeet (Parmeet Sethi), and Baldev's daughter, Simran, should marry each other, in accordance with a promise the two fathers had made to each other when their children were infants. Simran agrees to marry him out of respect for her father, but before the wedding, she begs her father to allow her to go on a trip to Europe with her female friends; her last chance to see the world before her marriage to a complete stranger and relocation to India. Even though he is very strict, Baldev relents and permits her to go, on the condition that she promises never to betray his trust. He says that he is allowing Simran to go as she has always respected and obeyed him.

During the trip, Simran bumps into Raj, who is on the same Eurorail package tour with some friends. After some initial misadventures, mainly due to disrespectful and raucous behaviour on the part of Raj, he falls in love with Simran. Only at their moment of parting at the railway station in London does Simran realize that she too loves Raj.

Simran goes home and tells her mother that she has fallen in love with someone else and cannot go through with her wedding to Kuljeet. Baldev overhears their conversation, and is furious that Simran broke her promise that she would never betray his trust. He is adamant that she will marry Kuljeet as planned, and that her heartbreak is of her own doing, and they will leave for India as soon as possible.

Even though Simran does not want to marry Kuljeet, her family returns to Punjab. As it turns out, Kuljeet is an arrogant alpha male who takes pride in being a hunter and boasts to his macho friends that he will engage in marital infidelity. Lajo tries to spare her daughter's feelings, but cannot stand up to her domineering husband. Both Simran and her sister Chutki are completely unimpressed with Kuljeet and his brash friends.

Raj, however, does not give up so easily. He follows Simran to Punjab at the urging of his bold father, meets her privately, and assures her that he will save her from the arranged marriage, and marry her with the consent of her father. Raj befriends Kuljeet and pretends to be a friend of the family. He helps with the wedding preparations and soon gains everyone's friendship. At the same time, Kuljeet's sister, Preeti (Mandira Bedi), falls in love with Raj, and things become complicated when Raj's father suddenly appears in India.

During this time, Simran pulls several stunts; she tapes her hand claiming that it has been cut in order to avoid putting on the engagement ring, and then pretends to faint towards the end of a religious fast so that she will not have to accept the fast-breaking food from Kuljeet. Simran's mom Lajo catches Simran and Raj feeding each other and realizes that Raj is the boy that Simran met on her trip. She calls them both and gives all her jewelry and belongings and tells Raj to run away with Simran because no one will understand their love here. Raj tells Lajo that everything will be fine and that he will only take Simran if her dad Baldev says so.

However, everything comes crashing down when Baldev sees a photograph of Raj and Simran together when they were on their trip across Europe. He exposes Raj's true identity in front of everybody, slaps him repeatedly, and angrily tells him to leave immediately, as Simran will marry Kuljeet regardless of what anybody thinks. As Raj leaves and is sitting at the railway station, Kuljeet and his friends follow him and nearly beat him senseless with sticks for his deception. When they also attack his father, Raj is rejuvenated and flies into a rage and single-handedly beats Kuljeet and his friends. Baldev and Ajit arrive, stop Raj, and tell him and his father to go on their way. Raj and his father board a train out of the village. However, as the train begins to pull out of the station, all the females in the family arrive. Simran tries to follow, and is stopped by Baldev. She begs him to let her go, and he eventually comes to his senses and realizes that no one loves his daughter as much as Raj does. He tells Simran to join Raj on the train, and she enthusiastically does so.